Super Bowl: Shaq's Fun House Draws Large Crowd, Celebrities With Live Music, Entertainment
EXPOSITION PARK (CBSLA) — Los Angeles's self-proclaimed best party-thrower is back in action on Friday evening with Shaq's Fun House, a night for everyone from A-list celebrities, athletes and musicians, to your very own coworkers to enjoy the best of what the city has to offer, with a whole lot of Shaq's personal touch.
Who better than everyone's favorite Los Angeles big man to kick of Super Bowl Weekend - with what is being billed as "a larger than life" event - than Shaquille O'Neal himself.
An idea that began in 2018, and after taking a year off in 2021 due to the pandemic, Shaq's Fun house is a night for games, live music and entertainment, local food favorites and prepping for Sunday's Super Bowl, in which the city's very own Los Angeles Rams will take part at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood.
The carnival grounds feature a ferris wheel, a merry-go-round, bumper cars and classic carnival and arcade games.
This year's music lineup featured Lil Wayne, Zedd, Diplo and Shaq himself on the turntables at Shrine Auditorium in Exposition Park.
A statement on the event's website, from the Lakers' most-beloved big man himself, said, "Los Angeles – I am back to win another Big Game Weekend championship! Part festival, part carnival, I recruited Lil Wayne, Zedd, Diplo and more to perform, plus will be building out a massive carnival experience. Get ready for LA's most over the top party and celebrity filled event ever!"
When CBS reporters spoke with Shaq on the red carpet of the event, he told them that he threw the party this year, as always to have some fun, because the city of Los Angeles deserves some excitement.
"I was once known as the greatest party-thrower in L.A., a title that I took from the great Magic Johnson," he recalled, before explaining the true motive behind his big event. "When I started playing for the Lakers I would do parties and a lot of famous people would come, but I know for a fact there's going to be a lot of 'corporate parties' with people standing around - I wanted to bring the carnival to the people of L.A., I wanted to bring my favorite DJs, I wanted to bring Lil Wayne, and we're just going to have a good time."
There's no true telling what the events of the night have in store, but he wanted to make one thing for sure - that everyone there was having fun.
Tickets to the event started at $400 a piece, which included unlimited food and drinks from bartenders around the property and Los Angeles favorites like Pink's Hot Dogs, Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles and more.
He planned to use Saturday as a day to rest ahead of Sunday's big game. "Hopefully the Rams... or the Bengals, will win on Sunday," he said, but when asked, Shaq denied CBS' request to predict a Super Bowl winner, "I don't have predictions. I'm one of the few people that whoever wins, I'll be a winner."
Based off of the preliminary success of the event, as celebrities and Los Angeles athletes showed up throughout the early-evening, it was clear that he truly will be.
Previous attendees of other Shaq's Fun House events include: Adam Levine, Jamie Foxx, Rob Gronkowski, Migos, Diplo, Patrick Mahomes, Reggie Bush, Tiesto, Steve Aoki, Akon, Lil Jon, T-Pain, Jermaine Dupri, Myles Teller, Adrian Peterson, Tim Tebow, French Montana and Dak Prescott among many more.
